Case study: 'Rolling out an AI copilot across a 400-person consulting firm'
Duration: 25 min
Lead-in · 'Trigger, Take, Trap' (6 min)
Format: Read → decide → name the trap
Six real-sounding lines from a consulting firm about to roll out an AI copilot. For each: (T1) what is the person actually triggering — hope, fear, turf? (T2) which single word in the line gives it away? (T3) what is the TRAP for a leader who takes the line at face value?
- turf (protecting seniority)
- hope dressed as fact
- cover (routing accountability)
- fear reframed as ignorance
- reassurance (denying too early)
- speed (via selection bias)
'The tool is fine — I just don't think ALL our senior partners will use it.'
'EVERY junior consultant is already using it — we're just formalising what's happening.'
'BOTH the risk team AND legal have signed off — we're clear to ship.'
'MOST of the pushback is coming from a few people who don't understand AI.'
'It's a productivity tool, not a headcount decision.'
'We should give the pilot to the consultants who are already the most enthusiastic.'
Follow-up: Which of the six lines have you personally SAID in the last 12 months — and what did you actually mean?
Ask the teacher: Write down anything you want to remember from this section. Your notes are saved automatically.
Final output — the rollout brief (solo, 15 min)
Write a single-page ROLLOUT BRIEF for Monday's partner call (max 180 words). It must contain, in this order: (1) the SCOPE decision in one sentence with the principled reason; (2) the human-in-the-loop RULE as a single testable sentence; (3) the three-sentence INTERNAL announcement; (4) the two-sentence EXTERNAL paragraph to clients; (5) the three MONTHLY METRICS with directional targets. Every quantifier (all, every, both, most, few) must be used ACCURATELY — no rhetorical 'everyone' where you mean 'the client-facing 310'. Use at least one word-pair collocation from Unit 10B (pros and cons, risks and rewards, short- and long-term, do's and don'ts).